Mikes Blog

Having fun
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Are you having fun yet? Or are you tormenting yourself by assuming you have to take everything so seriously?

A bit of genuine fun would make you feel better. And it’s also likely to make you more effective and engaged with whatever you’re doing.

The way to make anything a dreary chore is to think of it as a dreary chore. The way to make anything fun is to decide you’re going to have fun with it.

Young children develop mental and physical skills at an astoundingly rapid pace. They do it mostly by playing, by having fun.

Having fun allows you to be you, unburdened by worry, unencumbered by overthinking, free to wonder and learn and create. Fun provides a positive perspective, and that can shine a light on your best possibilities.

Choose more often to have fun. Enjoy what you’re doing to the point of delight, and you’ll do it a whole lot better.

— Ralph Marston

Certainty of doing
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Trying is not doing. Only doing is doing.

Trying is a vague, loosely defined concept that doesn’t lead anywhere in particular. Doing is a precise set of actions leading toward a specific objective.

If you’re trying and not having any luck, there are two problems. You see yourself as merely trying, and you consider yourself under the influence of blind, random luck.

Give up your dependence on luck and depend instead on your own actions. Give up the idea that you’re trying, and replace it with the certainty of getting specific work done.

Trying gives you an excuse to fail, to quit. Give yourself instead the commitment to succeed, to prevail, to get the work done.

Climb out of the hazy, ineffective bewilderment of trying. Jump right into the clear, focused, exhilarating experience of doing all the great things you can do.

— Ralph Marston

Keep working
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You have to keep working at life. And that’s a very good thing, because the more work you put into life, the more fulfilling it becomes.

Even if you could get everything perfect in your world, it wouldn’t stay that way. And that’s a very good thing, because you’d soon be bored with all that never-ending perfection.

You’re at your best when you’re making things better. Life is best when you’re able to continue investing yourself in it.

Learn to be thankful that your paint job weathers and peels, that the weeds grow back in your garden. Things like that are life’s way of giving you something to do, of providing you with a way to make a difference.

Every difficulty you encounter helps you avoid being useless. Every challenge you confront gives purpose and strength to your experience.

Each day is your opportunity to make real progress in an imperfect world where things often go wrong. Keep working at life, and keep all of life moving forward.

— Ralph Marston

Get positive
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A positive attitude catapults you into your most effective state. Even if there is no other reason to be positive, that’s more than enough reason.

Plenty of things happen that can understandably put you in a negative mood. Your most powerful strategy is to get yourself out of that bad mood.

Whatever may have put you in a bad mood, certainly don’t invest yourself in supporting and excusing and justifying it. Instead, put your energy into changing your perspective to a positive one.

You know from experience there are certain specific things you can think, do, and say that will quickly and genuinely improve the way you feel. You can’t immediately change the circumstances, or whatever just happened, yet you absolutely can change yourself and your response.

Acknowledge that you have every right to feel negative, and then make the powerful choice to be positive instead. There’s never been a case where your negativity improved a situation, so do what it takes to get positive.

When life has been disappointing, frustrating, painful and unfair, respond in a way that will bring out your best. Get positive, and get yourself quickly to a better place.

— Ralph Marston